Spirituality and Calling: Understanding a Spirituality of Work Spiritual Care Champions Series September 15, 2010.

Spirituality and Calling: Understanding a Spirituality of Work

Spiritual Care Champions Series

September 15, 2010

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Objectives

• Participants will learn about different definitions of spirituality.

• Participants will be able to understand why it is important to articulate a definition of spirituality that is grounded in a relationship with God, self and others.

• Participants will learn about practices that can help them to be self reflective, allowing them opportunities to see how their ministry allows God to be present to those they serve.

Definitions of spirituality

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Other definitions

Whatever gives meaning to your life. - Joe Driscoll

Spirituality is how a person finds meaning and purpose in his or her life in a way that is reflected in behaviors.

- Jerry Broccolo

Spirituality is the practice of staying consciously connected with what makes us alive, with ourselves, and with one another and the great other.

- Robin Carnes and Sally Craig

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• Spirituality is the diverse ways in which individuals answer their longings to be connected with the largeness of life – a longing that animates love and work.

– Parker Palmer

• Awareness of a being or force that transcends the material aspects of life and gives a deep sense of wholeness or connectedness to the universe.

– Myers, Sweeney, and Witner

• Spirituality refers to the way people lead their lives; it includes the deepest purpose toward which a life is directed and the values and goals that underlie motivation.

– Roger Haight

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• Spirituality is an aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and the way they experience their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred. – Association of American Medical Colleges; Nelson-

Becker; referenced in Puchalski, et. al., Journal of Palliative Medicine

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Distinction between spirituality and religion

• Spirituality is that which gives us meaning and purpose, connects us to ourselves, others and God and each person has a sense of spirituality because they are human.

• “Religion may be defined as a system of beliefs and practices observed by a community, supported by rituals that acknowledge, worship, communicate with, or approach the Sacred, Divine, God…” - Harold Koenig

• One can still have spirituality even if they do not belong to a particular religious tradition.

The importance of having a definition of spirituality that is grounded in relationship – with God, others and self

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Distinctions about dimensions of spirituality

Vertical dimension

- Between God

and me

- About the

personal

Relationship

Horizontal Dimension

- About the culture

- Transformational

- “Who we are”

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Chaplain Ministry

• Chaplains minister to the personal aspects of spirituality – with patients, families and co-workers.

• Chaplains also foster an organizational sense of spirituality – helping to support a culture that can attend to spiritual needs of individuals and the organization.

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The need to have a relational spirituality

• Must know one’s own assumptions and one’s own starting place.

• Our ministerial identity is often grounded in a particular tradition – claim it but then be open to others own spirituality.

• Be able to recognize the needs of the other. • Be able to enter the room without an agenda

open to whatever may present itself.

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Chaplaincy is rooted in the call

• Each chaplain was personally called to this ministry by God.

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

- Matthew 4

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“Vocation is the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.”

- Frederick Buechner

The ministry begins in us, but that ministry must be rooted in a spirituality that can balance our sense of meaning and purpose with others sense of meaning and life story.

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“Of course, one expects that professional religious, chaplains and clergy will have developed their capacity to enter the soul space, be open to the spiritual, and reflect the spiritual in what they say and do.”

- Jack Shea in Spirituality and Healthcare: Reaching Towards a Holistic Future

Practices that support self-reflection

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Humans choose good work. At its simplest, good work is work that makes sense, and that grants meaning to the one who is doing it and to those affected by it. The stakes in good work are necessarily high. Our competence may be at stake in ordinary, unthinking work, but in good work that is a heartfelt expression of ourselves, we necessarily put our very identities to hazard. Perhaps it is because we know, in the end, we are our gift to others and to the world.

From “Crossing the Unknown Sea, Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity”

by David Whyte

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Why self-reflection??

• The unexamined life is not worth living – Socrates

• People in ministry spend much time caring for the needs of others – must also be able to care for their own needs.

• Must be able to articulate how one’s feelings, beliefs and assumptions affect one’s pastoral care.

• Must be wary of the limits of ministry and the potential for burnout.

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Examining our life reveals patterns of behavior. Deeper contemplation yields understanding of the subconscious programming, the powerful mental software that runs our life. Unless we become aware of these patterns, much of our life is unconscious repetition.

– Robert Gerzon

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Accreditation bodies requiring this in standards

• NACC Standards– Demonstrate the ability to be self-reflective (303.31)– Attend to one’s own physical, emotional, and spiritual

well-being (303.7)

• APC Standards of Practice – The need to continually learn and implement self-care

practices to bring balance to his/her life through healthy habits, e.g., nutrition, rest, relationships, exercise and spirituality

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“It is no secret that stress takes a marked toll on persons who are sensitive to the world around them today.”

- Donna Markham

It is one of the ironies of the ministry that the very one who works in God's name is often hardest put to find time for God.

- Vince Havner

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How do we learn to make time for self-reflection and self-care?

• Practices that support caring for ourselves so we can continue our ministry:– Daily prayer or reflection

• Can begin day with prayer • Do Examen in the evening to find places where

God was present• Gratitude lists

– Meditation

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Self-Care Continued

• Check in with self – using tools to assess how you are caring for yourself (formal or informal)– Informal self assessment

• Check in regarding physical, spiritual and emotional needs

– Spiritual Needs Assessment for Chaplains*– Compassion Fatigue test*– Energy/Engagement assessment *

* See last page for more information on these tools

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Self-care continued

• Relational support– Peer support – Chaplain support groups/local meetings – Annual conferences– Counseling

• Reflection time – Spiritual direction – Annual retreat

Questions??Comments?

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Resources

Medicine, Religion and Health: Where Science and Spirituality Meet by Harold Koenig

Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker Palmer

Spirituality and Healthcare : Reaching Towards a Holistic Future by Jack Shea

Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity by David Whyte

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Additional Resources

• Spiritual Needs Assessment for Chaplains – see Appendix L in Healing Ways: A Practical Guide to Hospital Ministry by Junietta Baker McCall

• Compassion Fatigue self test can be found at: http://www.proqol.org/ProQol_Test.html

• Energy and Engagement profile from the Corporate Athlete Program. More information can be found at: http://hpinstitute.com/assessment_profile.html